


a certain morning of a certain day in winter

by Bubblemage



Series: Soulbound [4]
Category: Archie Comics, Archie Comics & Related Fandoms, Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Friends, F/M, Language, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-13 14:19:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12985872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bubblemage/pseuds/Bubblemage
Summary: Veronica had always thought that love was something tender, sweet and affectionate.  But what she realized was that this was only a plausible delusion. Because when she experienced her first love, She learned that loving someone was just like something tearing her violently into pieces.





	a certain morning of a certain day in winter

**Author's Note:**

> So it's been forever, and for that im sorry. This installment is mostly just clearing the air of what happened between 'On the wire' and 'the peaks.' ive been thinking about how i want to go about writing this, and i felt that going back and building up more of the story is going to make it easier for me to not only continue it but decide how i want it to end. If you are just now starting this series, please start from the beginning and work your way forward; despite the fact this does fill in some more of the gaps, its still a recent installment cause it skips from the past to the present in my soulbound storyline. But i hope this makes up for the wait.

  

The first time Veronica had properly set eyes on Jughead was two days after their initial introduction. The rest of her new friend group were still wrapped up in whatever it was that was happening in their classes and Jugheads attention was focused wholeheartedly on the meal before him. She’d kept near the entrance of the cafeteria and simply watched him with a slight smile and a warm fuzzy feeling in her stomach.  
  
Her grandmother had told her that it was important to eat food deliciously; that it showed appreciation for life and all its splendor. Also, that it made whoever cooked it certainly feel more confident in their skills.  
  
Veronica was always a lonely child; maybe that's why she gravitated toward Jughead at the start of it all more than anyone else. Sure, looking back on it she can fairly seriously say it was the fact he was her soulmate; but that didn't count out all the things he represented in that moment for her.

The idea of someone eating food with that much vigor gave her an image of a happy family seated a table enjoying one another's company; a type of environment she was sadly declined often when growing up. Jughead showed the signs of having had a happy family image, something she was sorely lacking.

Their friendship had started off tentative and based on the fact she happened to be Archies soulmate and Betty’s newfound best friend. Sure, both having incarcerated Fathers gave them each someone to confide in, but Veronica had always taken it as something more.

They’d graduated from sharp barbs and harsh glances to hushed whispers in a Library and debates about movie plots over milkshakes. To sitting across from one-another and conversing through raised brows and eye rolls. He’d told her how he loved Betty, and she’d pushed aside the strange fog that settled over her heart to point him in the right direction to win the heart of her best-friend far more properly.

In the end, she’d attempted to cover it up. The strange fog that descended into her heart wasn't going to disappear and instead it piled at the bottom of her heart and emitted a disgusting scent that wafted into her every action.

The night before their friendship dissolved they were seated in the back of pops. Archie had left moments earlier to go to football practice and Veronica had skipped cheer practice to instead finish a History paper. Jughead was sitting across from her and aimlessly dunking his fries into Ketchup when she kicked his leg and asked him how his endeavors in the realm of love were going.

“Loving someone is like finding a part of yourself with the softest and thinnest skin.” He’d said slowly, his fry forgotten and sinking further into the small cup of ketchup. His beanie was discarded on the table and he was haphazardly running his hands through his hair, an irritated groan leaving his lips when he dropped his hands to the table with an audible thud.

“Just a stupid touch makes my temperature go up, and if you sink your nails into me just slightly its like you could rip off my skin..ugh, I don't know.” He buries his face in his hands and Veronica wonders if Betty thinks about Jughead in the same manner; she hopes Archie does in regards to her.

And yet her heartaches, and she cant place exactly why in that moment. When she spoke to her father on the phone that night he’d said-”In time you’ll learn that ‘ _just’_ and _‘right’_ only mean the same thing when they’re coming from very specific people. Please stop crying.”

Her mother had told her that sometimes people put their hearts in the wrong places and to be sure it wasn't between her teeth.

The next night she’d only been teasing him when she spoke. He had a habit of looking at Betty like she were a piece of artwork too glorious for the common eye. Stealing glances and sighing wistfully whenever she touched him. When Betty had excused herself to the bathroom, she thought she was being funny when she’d spoke.  
  
But then he had to go and open his mouth and cause quite the commotion. Because Veronica wasn't able to conceal the heartbreak and sheer horror that painted itself across her features or calm down considerably enough to leave the diner without making a scene.

And god had she made a scene. She was sure her grandmother was rolling in her grave at the manner in which she’d fled the diner. Her books discarded on the table and her jacket still slung over the back of the booth seat.  
  
Oh and how she ran. She’d never considered herself a runner, not even a jogger on a good day.  But she was positive she’d put Hermes to shame at the pure speed she’d used to put distance between her and that diner that night. She’d broken a heel on her way into the Pembroke and rattled the paintings on the wall when she’d slammed the door.

She didn't go to school for the rest of the week and her mother didn't even address it. She’d spoken to her father on her third day home from school and he’d sighed over the phone.  
  
“Some relationships, like warts, can be handled with the tactful application of liquid nitrogen.” She could practically feel the shrug in his voice.  
  
“Take a long shower, wash your hair, was the clothes you were wearing. There's a variety of sadness that makes a home in your guts and never quite leaves. Remember that it pays to kill with kindness, especially when you’re your own worst enemy. Now put your mother on the phone.”

She went to school on Monday with a new necklace courtesy of her father and the advisement of her mother to temper the hornets that rest in her mouth. She’d sat next to Kevin at lunch and ignored the stares Archie was giving her and the fact that Jughead wouldn't stare at her at all.  
  
Jughead corners her outside of the Library between classes, his grip on her arm tight and his lips pressed into an even tighter line when he drags her into the AV club’s storage closet. He looks as if he hasn't been sleeping properly and she wonders what he’s been worrying about.  
  
“Did you tell Betty?” he asks. And Veronica cant help the pursing of her lips at his question.  
  
It’s always about Betty.  
  
“It's a shame being an asshole isn't curable.”  
  
“Does Archie know?”  
  
“Does it matter?” She retorts as she wrenches her arm from his grasp and smoothes out the wrinkles in her black dress shirt.  
  
“Watch the glare ice-princess, frostbite is considerably difficult to heal from.”  
  
“Fuck you.”  She moves to step away from him, her hand wrapping around the doorknob and just about to turn it when he tugs her away.  
  
“Jughead what the fuck?”  
  
“You can't tell Betty.”  
  
“Being loathsome and lovey in equal measure is probably a talent somewhere.” She slaps his hand away and he has the gall to look shocked at her actions.  
  
“Veronica, im being serious. You can't tell anyone.”  
  
“And Why not? Worried that suddenly Betty won't have any interest in you anymore?”  
  
“Because it isn't fair. It’s supposed to be me and Betty.” She’s sure he didnt think through what he said, because his face shifts from childlike disappointment to shock at his own words. She’s sure when he opens his mouth its to quickly remedy the situation with something along the lines of _‘But you’re a swell pal Ronnie, you know that, I just dont like you that way.’_

“Newsflash, the universe paired me with you too, what the hell makes you think I want borrowed goods? Good fucking luck keeping this from her.”

 

* * *

 

 

 

"I heard that first loves don't come true, but I don't remember who said it." Betty is laying across Veronica’s bed, whatever movie was playing on the TV is forgotten at her words and Veronica Shifts her attention from painting Betty’s nails pink to raise a brow at her.  
  
Veronica thinks that it's weird that things didn't work out, considering how great of a person Betty is. Its six months after the incident, and her and Betty’s friendship continues on without a hitch; her and Jughead’s however never recovers.  
  
Her mother had told her that in a strong friendship, admiration and respect come close to the feelings of love. She’d thought those loathsome feelings couldn't possibly be friendship, and it was something she couldn't comprehend; and a feeling she wasn't sure how to go about accepting.

Exactly what was this nauseating feeling?  
  
“Do you think it was Dangerous to get involved with him? With FP being a southside serpent and all...”  
  
The world which is turning ever faster all of a sudden stopped. That’s what she felt.

“Love is all about choices"-She starts with a tilt of her head-" No one is going to be perfect for you. If you want to make it work with someone, I think it's more about hard work, understanding, compassion, communication, and choice.” Veronica says then. Had she been focused more so on Betty then painting her nails, she’d have noticed the strange look that crossed her Best friends face.

Betty often struck people as simple. And she was. Where people went wrong was thinking that simple meant the same thing as stupid. She knew exactly what she was doing when she kissed Jughead. She knew that this raven-haired boy wanted more than friendship, and Betty was willing to toy with the Idea of them living in their own world long enough to realize that it wasn't going to end well.  
  
Betty wasn't a bad person, but she didn't think it was fair she had to keep sharing with Veronica. First Archie and now Jughead; She wasn't a selfish person by any means, but she knew the appeal the dark side seemed to have on people. She thinks she might be able to save Jughead from himself; she wonders if the damage she'll cause between her soulmate friends is worth trying. 

   
But Betty Cooper does not interfere. She doesn’t interfere because she thinks it doesn't have much meaning.

"Do you love him?" Betty is pulled from her musings by Veronica's question and shocks herself at how quickly she wants to say yes. Because she's sure she loves Jughead, she just isn't sure how much.  
  
"Stranger things have happened." She says instead. Veronica tries to ignore the crescent-shaped scars in the palm of her hand but ends up lightly dragging her index finger over them. Betty's gaze is trained to the TV and she forces herself not to react, but her hand twitches at the contact and she knows she's been found out once more.  
  
"Decorating your meltdowns is all well and good but a trainwreck is still a trainwreck." She's screwing the cap back onto the nail polish and blowing lightly on Betty's fingers to help along the drying process before she speaks again.

"It might be time to get a paramedic." 

"You suggesting I tell my mother?" Betty's pushing herself to sit upright, watching Veronica as she opens a drawer in her vanity and drops the nail polish into it with a resounding _clack_ as it collides with the many bottles like it.   
  
"She's pretty ill-equipped to deal with you. Which is unsurprising since you're ill-equipped to deal with you."  
  
"So telling Jughead I love him is going to suddenly fix all my problems?"  
  
"Platonic soulmates are weird like that. He might help you through a difficult time and you might help him through a difficult time. Flirt with the void of the universe, just don't get pregnant." Veronica supplies with Smile and turns up the Volume on the TV before dropping herself on the bed Next to Betty with a remark on how cute Leonard Decaprio is. 

Betty Cooper feels like she needs to be forgiven.

 

* * *

Veronica's Father comes home from prison the beginning of her Senior year. It's a very underwhelming affair altogether and she has to push aside the intense need to call up Jughead and see if he shared similar sentiments when his own father had came home.  

He remarks constantly on her attitude and habits, and she fights back tooth and nail to maintain whatever semblance of self she’s managed to create in his absence.

“You’re only armed to the teeth because you’re more brittle than you’d care to admit.” He remarks one day from his study. His attention is on the book before him and he takes a sip from his thousand dollar scotch before beckoning her into the room with a hand motion that sends the amber liquid sloshing in the glass.  
  
She sits in front of his desk and rests her head atop the mahogany with a sigh.

“You might not want to change, but the world is unforgiving and will do it for you anyway.”

“What did I ever do to deserve this?” She asks, her eyes welling with tears and a sob threatening to crack in her throat as she speaks.

“In all probability something terrible. Cosmic karma has a way of forging forced paths.”

“He wants to be with _Betty._ ”- She hisses-” And yet the universe put _us_ together.”  
  
“Grief and growth live hand-in-hand. Don't bite off more than you can chew.” He remarks with a wry smile. His eyes glance at her for a moment before returning to the words on the page, and Veronica knows this is his way of saying she’s dismissed.

“Its less like biting off more than I can chew and more like dislocating my fucking jaw.” She grabs his handkerchief from his suit pocket and dabs at her eyes, not willing to take the time to re-do her makeup before heading out with Archie to the Drive-in.

She doesn't want another round of awkward questions that involvement him trying to figure out who her Soulmate might be (He’d seen the words when she’d stretched while they were studying, the words neatly scripted down her side and peeking out from the hem of the sweater she was wearing when she’d risen her hands above her head to stretch. Betty had gasped and Archie had visibly turned irritated.)

“A study in complacency. An Essay on sensibility and a dissertation on disenchantment. You can put the flowers in a vase all you want, but dying is dying and Rot is rot. Don't feel the need to accept something so soon just because the universe said it was so. Everything has a time and place. Besides, people would take your raging far more seriously if you weren't crying the entire time.” He silently turns the page in his book and effectively ends the conversation. Veronica huffs and leaves the room.

 

Archie ends up canceling on their date and Veronica finds herself pouting in the back booth of 'Pop's'; a milkshake melting into a weird watery consistency and Fries drying out on her plate. She's scrolling through Instagram posts when she takes note of Jughead standing just a few steps away from her. His laptop tucked under his arm and a pensive look on his features.  
  
He takes the seat across from her. 

She regards him with a bored look before speaking.

  
"Do you really want to even convey this, or do you just want to run away from putting it into words?"  
  
"I've seen a lot of hostility but that was quantifiably bitchy. What are we, nemeses?" 

"Are you trying to upgrade yourself now?"  
  
"Hey, I wasn't the one doing all the avoiding. People can still be friends after awkward moments." She's annoyed that he's right. She pissed that she's missed this type of banter. 

"Maybe in the future when we're slightly older and our minds are less hectic I'll be right for you and you'll be right for me." he says kindly.  
  
"And what if our friendship just falls apart again?"  
  
"What if it falls together?"  
  
"Sometimes friends don't tell each other things."  
  
"I don't expect it to be the same, or even better." She looks him over slowly before unleashing the floodgates that hold back everything she's kept inside the past two years.  
  
Its two weeks into their friendship when Jughead steps into her house for the fifth time. She always makes sure her father isn't around and that her Mother won't tell before she invites him over to watch movies in her living room. They always watch movies in pairs that have similar themes. He'd chosen _V for vendetta_ and she thought that _Watchmen_ would be a good match considering they were going by comics. comics she'd never read, but the themes seemed similar enough for her to just go with it regardless. 

He's sitting next to her when he suddenly turns to look at her, His mouth opening before audibly closing. She's holding the bowl of popcorn in her lap and her attention is fully on the movie when he calls her name. She turns to him, an eyebrow rose in question as she glances at the TV momentarily before pausing the Movie.  
  
"I thought we agreed to argue over movies then they're done, not in-between." Jughead had this manner in which he would stand his ground and be selfish. it was an offense and defense at once, and looking back on it all she thinks she was given enough time to hesitate and properly read the air that was settling about them. It was the time to question whatever was going on behind his eyes and the chance to refuse it bluntly with all her strength. Enough time to call it a joke.  
  
She was given all of that.   
  
The chance to stand one's ground and be selfish herself. But perhaps a different kind of selfish. A sort of selfish that wouldn't result in her kissing her best-friends boyfriend and falling even more into the weird realm of friendship turned love her mother had warned her about.   
  
And just as quick as it happened it had Ended. With Jughead grabbing his DVD's and leaving her home just as silently as he'd come in. The next day she sees him he's shoving things into his Locker and looking for what she assumes is his flash drive when she blocks him against the locker.  
  
"Don't do anything if you're going to pretend nothing happened afterward. I don't wanna be scared by myself. If its gonna be like this then, don't draw the continuation." He regards her with a sad smile.  She doesn't see him again still graduation.

* * *

 

Betty Cooper had gone to Newyork to be her own person. And no, it didn't cross her mind that the Lodge empire was built in the city that never sleeps; all that mattered was that it felt like she could breathe.   
  
And then Jughead Followed.   
  
Betty had no intention of taking anyone along with her when she'd slipped out in the middle of the night; her clothing shoved into the trunk of her beat up buggy, and her letter of employment clutched in her hands as she slipped out her window. She knew if her mother saw her, she would only talk Betty into staying.  
  
And she didn't want to stay.   
  
The quaint semi-safe atmosphere that Riverdale had was all well and good when she was a child, But as she took the first steps into adulthood, she realized she wanted a clean slate. Sure, she was going to miss Veronica, she was her friend after all. But Betty couldn't bring herself to stay around Archie knowing that they were platonic.   
  
It didn't matter that he was interested in Veronica.   
  
It was the concept of it all.   
  
Her skin felt tight and so alien the day of graduation, and no amount of scrubbing or bath soaking would lessen the feeling. It was as if something was crawling beneath the surface of her skin and whispering at her to just go. It was a perk that her new job was offering to help set her up with accommodation, but Betty was more than ready to just live from the inside of her car.   
  
She was crawling out of her window when she stepped on Jughead's head. His quiet hiss was so sudden, she had to remind herself she was clinging to the windowsill and not standing on level ground.   
  
"Going somewhere Juliette?" He'd asked in that soft tone of his. With the voice that oozed concern and curiosity. She wanted to wave him off; she should've waved him off.  
  
But he was the calm that rested in the storm that she called her life. The whipping winds and endless rain that constantly pelted down atop her was drastically lessened when he was around.   
  
"Leaving." She whispered, and she motioned for him to continue his descent. He helped her to grasp onto the branch and shimmy her way down the oak tree that was rested just outside her window. His hands were shoved into the leather jacket she hated with every fiber of her being, and she was reminded that she couldn't just leave him.   
  
"it's lonely to be all by yourself, isn't it?" The spring air settled about her, and Betty was reminded of the start of a new life.   
  
She was also reminded that she was Jughead's platonic. A secret he'd tried so horribly hard to keep from her that she'd managed to work out easily enough. He had this habit of looking at her as if she could answer all the questions in the universe.   
  
Like she was some goddess and not some girl.    
  
  
"I don't really know...if I even feel lonely or sad."  
  
"I hear that's what being an adult is like. Regardless, I just wanted to see you." Betty wants to ask him why, but she can tell that the whole situation is moving into the realm of not being her business. She doesn't want to know why he wanted to see her, but she's bending over to grab the last bag off the grass when she notices his own duffle bag.   
  
"Southside bound?" She gets a sort of sick satisfaction at the way he winces and then quickly shakes his head.   
  
He's too good for the slums of the southside; she doesn't understand whats so tantalizing about the danger of it all. Polly told her that it was always the good people that drift too close to the dark side; that the excitement of not being held accountable, or not even having to be moral is a sort of freedom.   
  
She thinks Jughead is a wonderful actor.  
  
Jughead is every sort of darkness and tantalizing danger, but he isn't completely aware of it yet. Almost as if he's sleeping. So Betty Decides to bite the bullet and take the first step to never being able to turn around.   
  
"Need a ride?"  
  
"Depends on where you're headed." She's waving the letter just out of his reach, and the way Jughead smiles and envelopes her into a hug and lavishes her with words of praise and congratulations reminds her of how horrible a person she is.  
  
"Still need a ride?" She's trying to keep her voice down despite the excitement that he's stirred within her, and Jughead is rummaging through his bag for his own Envelope and waving it before her face with a grin when she feels the universe settle. 

 _I'm a coward who always cares too much about the opinion of others."_ She thinks bitterly.  _'The real me...is so selfish."_

Betty didn't interfere in the workings of her friends. It was never her business or place. But she knew exactly what had been going on the last few years and it finally settled in that maybe this was why she was Jughead's Platonic. So she could save him from himself.

But Betty didn't interfere, she did not push, and she did not question. 

Betty Cooper just wants to be forgiven. Doesn't matter by whom, she just wants to be forgiven.

 

* * *

   
She learns he's with Betty when she calls to ask about her work in new york and she hears him speaking in the background. Its a jolting thing that sends her into a fit of tears and screams. She doesn't mean to tell Archie, but she does. The words just tumble from her mouth in between sobs and Suddenly Kevin is being called to calm her down enough to speak properly.  
  
She doesn't know how Cheryl finds out or even FP for that manner.  
  
Suddenly everyone knows more about whats going on then she does and Archie is on the phone with Jughead and they're arguing.    
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> sooo not sure when i'll update this again but hopefully this tides everyone over till i can... if you notice any horrible typos or have questions dont be scared to lmk and i'll either fix the typos or answer ur questions. i'll update she said im lonely sometime later this week hopefully cause i have an outline for the next chapter worked out.


End file.
